Holi y Día de Sant Jordi!

I’ve now been back from spring break for almost three weeks now, and I have been loving life in Barcelona.  I am so grateful for my life here, and my routine of classes, work, and lots of time to explore my beautiful city.  I can’t believe I have just 5 weeks left of my normal routine because finals begin and things wind down for the semester.  A few friends and I just booked our last big trip of the semester to the south of Spain again, this time to Granada and Málaga with a day trip to Morocco- can’t wait!  I’m even more excited to meet up with my family—just a little more than 6 weeks until London!  All in all, I’m really trying to soak up every moment of life here before I have to leave in July.  Two highlights of my last two weeks in Barcelona: Holi and Día de Sant Jordi.

Holi

Holi is an Indian festival of color that celebrates the beginning of a beautiful, colorful spring each year.  Holi is also celebrated in Berkeley each year but I’ve been unable to go, so my first one was in Barcelona!  Everyone shows up to Holi wearing white, and then everyone proceeds to throw packets of colored dust at each other until everyone is completely covered in colors! I personally turned pretty blue, and it definitely took a few showers before the blue tint was really out of my skin.  My friends (Katie, Madeline, and Frannie) and I had so much fun, and I can’t wait to do it again in Berkeley next year!

Día de Sant Jordi

Yesterday was Día de Sant Jordi, and it was possibly my favorite day in Barcelona yet.  Día de Sant Jordi is the Spanish equivalent of Valentine’s Day, but SO much better, and not horribly commercialized like the American holiday.  The history of the holiday lies in an old Catalán legend.  The short version: a brave, young knight (Sant Jordi) saved a beloved princess, and in turn the whole kingdom, by slaying a dragon, and from the dragon’s blood grew beautiful roses.  To celebrate the holiday the men give the women roses, and the women give the men books (Way better than Valentine’s Day, right?!).  Until yesterday I had no idea what a big deal Día de Sant Jordi was!  Apparently HALF of the yearly book sales in all of Catalunya take place on the single day of Día de Sant Jordi.  The streets are packed with book stand and rose stands, and most bookstores even had big discounts yesterday.  Additionally, hundreds of great Spanish authors fill the streets of Barcelona to sign books all day long.  I was lucky enough to have TWO books signed yesterday and meet the authors Javier Cercas (Soldados de Salamina) and Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Shadow of the Wind).  Yesterday was such a beautiful day in Barcelona, and it really made me fall in love with the beautiful city all over again.  To top of a wonderful day the sweet family of one of the girls a tutor in English gave me a rose for Sant Jordi.  They said it’s important that everyone feels special and loved on Día de Sant Jordi, and I couldn’t have been more happy to get it :)

Spring Break!

This year I was lucky enough to have two weeks of spring break to explore Europe! I spent the last two weeks traveling through Berlin, Prague, Paris, Pisa, Florence, and Venice with Madeline and meeting up with friends along the way! Here are some highlights from each of the beautiful places I visited! (I tried to keep the pictures to a minimum, so click here for a link with more on Facebook)

Berlin, Germany

Our first stop on our trip was cold, snowy Berlin.  Our first few days in Berlin we visited the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall, the Checkpoint Charlie border crossing between East and West Germany, the Reichstag (parliament building) and Brandenburg Gate, another border crossing between the East and West.

We spend another full day of our time in Berlin at Sachsenhausen, the nearest concentration camp to the city of Berlin.  Sachsenhausen is still preserved from its use in the 1930s and 1940s, and was a camp primarily for political and social prisoners, as well as Jewish prisoners.  Visiting this site was powerful, moving, and very important, and made all of the years of history I've learned about so much more tangible and real.

Our last major stop in Berlin was the Olympic Stadium, built and used for the 1936 summer olympics.  Hitler built the stadium and presided over the games during the early years of his term as chancellor of Germany, and the stadium is still used today for sporting events, mainly soccer.

Prague, Czech Republic

After a wonderful (Harry Potter-like) train ride through the snowy countryside from Berlin, we arrived in Prague! Prague was one of my favorite stops on my spring break trip because it was the first time I had been to an eastern european country/city that was so well preserved. The skyline of Prague is filled with spires, castles, towers, and bridges that are far older than the USA- always so interesting to me! In Prague we enjoyed the Easter Markets and beautiful castles-- we even met one of the modern-day princes at the castle/family home he operates!

On our second day in Prague we met up with two wonderful friends from home/AXO, Mel and Lizzie, and took a walking tour of the city.  We say the old town and the Jewish Quarter, both well-preserved from their origins 1000 years ago.  The Jewish Quarter of Prague is particularly well-preserved, in comparison with other european cities, because Hitler intended for the city to be a "museum of an extinguished race", but the neighborhood is beautiful and thriving today.  

Our last day in Prague we enjoying exploring the city further and found the famous John Lennon wall.  When John Lennon was killed this wall became a place for young people in Prague to express themselves, their ideas, and their dreams for a county free form communism.  Today the wall is still a place for people to express themselves through beautiful art!

Paris, France

Our third stop on marathon-spring break was beautiful Paris! We packed lots of sights into our two days in Paris including: the Louvre, the Orsay Museum, the Eiffel Tower, Easter at the Notre Dame, the Pantheon, and lots of delicious crepes and fondue!

 crazy crowds around the Mona Lisa

Pisa, Italy

Between Paris and Florence we took a quick pit-stop in Pisa to see the famous leaning tower and take our classic tourist pictures.  Even though I've seen it in pictures I was still shocked by the tower... can't believe it'd still standing!

Florence, Italy

After a few hours in Pisa we continued on to beautiful, peaceful Florence.  We were lucky to meet up with Mel again (she's studying there) and have a "local" guide around the city.  We stayed close to the Duomo/Cathedral and spent our days at museums and eating delicious Italian food!  My favorites were the Uffizi Gallery of Renaissance art and seeing Michelangelo's David which took my breath away in person.  Mel showed us around some beautiful places in the city and took us out for some absolutely delicious pizza, pasta, and gelato.

Venice, Italy

In our last stop of our trip we spent a few days in Venice.  We stayed just off the Grand Canal in the center of town and experience Venice in its true form-- flooded from the rain!  The city put up platforms for people (tourists) to walk on around the main square to avoid the nearly foot-deep water in the plaza.  In Venice we say St. Mark's Basilica (nearly 1000 years old!) and enjoyed wandering through beautiful, incredible canals.